Some Writing Work and Work in Progress

Honestly

I am going to write about people's motives and the motives behind that when they act, think or say something.

I am now four and a half decades old ... not really, really old, but old enough to give opinions on just about anything related to human behaviour. I have seen it all - hate, envy, pride, bruised egos, lust, love, anger, jealousy, dishonesty, greed ... the minuses in human society are more than compensated by the pluses. However, sometimes, the minuses that you see really hurt.

Let me give you an example. Imagine a rich family living in one of the posh-est addresses in Mumbai. There are two old persons (father and mother), two youngsters (the son and his wife) and a girl, barely twelve. They live in an apartment with four or five rooms. The son and the wife want the father and mother to sign off their ownership on the apartment in the son's name and continue to live with them. Their motive is to get the house in their name so that after the father dies, the property that comes to them acts as a compensation for the work they did and the costs they incurred. The parents agree, expecting that after this, at least they will be able to lead a happy life as they ride into thesunset of life.

After they have signed the documents, the son, who is anyway not properly employed and does not earn much, becomes even more lazy and starts remaining home most of the time. The wife is already a housewife and cannot add to the income. Their daughter is schooling, and although she loves her grandparents, she cannot do much in this case.

During the next two years, the son and his wife start ill-treating their parents, their hopes of an early death vanishing as the parents are medically only slightly ill and the doctor is all smiles whenever they go to him, saying that his patients are likely to live for at least another twenty years.

Initially, the maltreatment is covert, and the neighbours and others do not get a whiff of it. Even the daughter has no idea. However, gradually, this bad treatment becomes more and more overt and more and more inhuman. The parents' room is not cleaned or aired. Their clothes become more and more tattered and torn. They are not given proper meals - or even the meals that are cooked in the house - but fed diluted gravies, very small helpings of bread, no sweets or treats and so on. Not being used to this, they start protesting to their son and daughter-in-law, who tighten the screws further.

By the time six months have elapsed since the son got possession of the house, the parents are mostly confined to their own room, which is dirty, not cleaned for more than a month and both of the parents' healths have deteriorated. They have lost their mobility, their zest for life and their "humanity" as well.

The last straw on the camel's back comes when the son and wife ask for money from them. Bereft of anything but the most meagre savings, the parents refuse to give anything more. They are then physically beaten and "thrown" out of the house at an unearthly hour.

Neighbours, who are alarmed at this, intervene and threaten tocall the police, after which, the son and wife "apologise" and taket heir parents back in.

One fine afternoon, when 150 lakhs of Mumbaiites are busy doing whatever they do, the parents sign a letter blaming their son and daughter-in-law for the mess they have created and for their own deaths and jump out of their sixth floor window to die instantly when they hit the ground.

The police is vigilant and immediately on finding the note, arrest the son and his wife, but release them after three days in their custody on their furnishing a bond as per the law.

While the court case drags on, the small family continues to live in doldrums, the apartment being attached by the court till the verdict comes in. The son continues doing odd jobs and brings in a small amount of money which is just enough to have two square meals a day. As the days pass, his financial position worsens, so that he is forced to seek help from relatives, friends, neighbours etc.

Then come the credit card withdrawals, the personal loans, the unofficial, high-interest borrowings from businessmen and so on. Within two years, the son has run up debts exceeding three million rupees and has no means of returning these unless he is able to sell off the house.

Dejected, he even tries to run away from home, but his daughter sees him packing and confronts him. He is driven to despair and does not know what to do.

Almost six years to the day when his parents died after signing a pact of suicide, the court announces the date of the final verdict in the case.

Two days after this, and three days before the court hearing, the wife, then the father and finally the daughter repeat the performance of their parents and jump from the same window and kill themselves.

Perhaps a case of "what goes around comes around"? Or is it that they were apprehensive of being labelled "culpable" in "driving" their parents to suicide? Or was the timing of their suicide simply fortuitous?

A letter is found on the window sill. Only this is written: "We are fed up with life and are taking this as a way out."

Check out:

With A Cherry On The Top  (ASR) Natasha would give anything to be allowed to eat just one more ice cream. #909828 by Dr Taher writes again!

** Image ID #950924 Unavailable **

I do not suffer from insanity. I positively enjoy every moment living it!